Olayiwola Matthew
The President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, on Tuesday shed more light on how to end the reoccurring issue of fuel queues in the country.
Dangote, who briefed State House reporters in Abuja, urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and marketers across the country to stop the importation of fuel.
He expressed optimism that his refinery is the solution to the lingering fuel queues across the nation. “What I estimated as our daily consumption is about 30-32 million litters, that one we can even start producing by next week. That is not really an issue because as we speak today, we have 500 million litres in our tanks. With that even if there is no production anywhere or no import, that will take the country more than 12 days,” Dangote said.
“We are very ready, we are more than ready and I am also putting my name on the line that we will be able to supply the market 30 million per day and we are ramping up, so we are ready. “So I am expecting that the NNPCL and the marketers should stop importing, they should come and collect what they need. I don’t know if you understand what it means to keep half of billion litres in our tanks, it is costing me money. Every day if I am to collect money I can charge 32 per cent in interest. That is what I am losing, If they come and collect then you will not see any queue in the filling stations.”
This came barely four weeks after the federal government began implementing a policy to sell crude oil to the Dangote Refinery in naira rather than United States dollars. The Federal Government said the move would stabilize fuel prices domestically and strengthen Nigeria’s currency by cutting down on the need for dollars in crude oil transactions.